At the beginning of epoch 840, on August 27th, the important voting process began at Solana Red. Validators have time to vote epoch 842 of the 0326 Improvement Proposal (SIMD-0326) called Alpenglow is intended to replace the current consensus mechanism of that network.
In Solana, epoch It is a defined period, during which the set of balloters remains stable. each epoch That lasts for about 2-3 days, so Voting will last for about a week from today.
The goal of Alpenglow is to completely change the network consensus system. As detailed in his repository, “He aims to reduce the completion of a 12.8-second block, and it’s 150 milliseconds.”
A block completion is the point in which the block contains transactions. It is considered irreversiblethat is, when you reach a level of security that can be reversed by reorganizing the chain.
At the time of this phrase, 6.5% of staking who have already cast that vote and are tilted to answer If it’s almost completely “yes”although many validators are still deducted to vote,
Alpenglow: Redesigning the Solana Consensus
The proposal for SIMD-0326 was announced on July 11 by developers Quentin Kniep, Kobi Sliwinski and Roger Wattenhofer.
Following the draft documentation of this proposal, the move to Alpenglow addresses the need to overcome the limitations of the current Solana Consensus model, consisting of Proof of History (POH) and TowerBFT protocols.
The first function serves as a cryptographic watchmaking mechanism that allows you to order network transactions Without relying on external timefacilitating synchronization between nodes.
Based on that, the opera Towerbft is a variant of resistance to Byzantine disorders (BFTs), Validators reach quick agreement on block verification.
Alpenglow is looking to replace the combination with a design that improves operational efficiency, network resilience and the greater simplicity of its implementation, according to the development team.
Alpenglow’s “heart” is a voter and a direct voting protocol You can complete the block in one or two voting roundsdepending on the network conditions.
This, according to the developers, The delay drops from 12.8 seconds to 100-150 msIn addition to improving the efficiency of bandwidth usage by eliminating heavy messages in messages.
Furthermore, the document introduces robust certifications and offers a variety of certificates. Prove, omit, or finish blocks According to the validator’s vote.
To achieve this, these participants will use cryptographic tallies to exchange votes directly Prove the consensus reached.
Alpenglow’s proposal proposes nodes organized by each epoch’s leader
The SIMD-0326 initiative is designed to operate on a network consisting of “thousands of nodes.” epoch.
Time consists of slotintervals in which a pre-selected leader is responsible for producing the block.
Block structure It occurs at several stages: First, the block information is split into large calls.”slice”. And then everything.”slice” It’s fragmented in the call of a small piece.”Shredded. TheseShredded They are what is ultimately sent to other validators in the network.
In this scheme, when a block is received, the baritter begins the voting process. If the block arrives in time and is valid, they will vote in favor. Otherwise, they can choose to omit it.
When will the completion occur? A sufficient portion of Stake will enable blocking. If there is no consensus in the first round, a second vote will be possible to define its fate.
In the case of data loss, the proposal incorporates a recovery mechanism to allow nodes Request missing information from other network participants.
Solana’s new reward scheme
In addition to technical redesign, Alpenglow incorporates an a New Reward Scheme. In the current system, the validator sends each voting transaction slotAccording to the team behind SIMD-0326, there will be higher bandwidth and committee costs.
With Alpenglow’s proposal, votes will take place outside the chain and will be significantly reduced by total signatures Complexity and participation costs.
Each validator receives a stake-proportional reward for each voting cast. To ensure commitment, they must make a valid vote slot: Those who are not left without rewards and are not left You can exclude from active assembly of an enabled assembly.
Validator admission tickets (VAT or validation admission tickets) have been introduced as an economic management mechanism. epoch It burns and functions as an entrance barrier to prevent abuse.
Finally, network leaders receive additional rewards for their role in adding and sending validator votes.
